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Encyclopedia > Good (economics and accounting)

A good or commodity in economics is any object or service that increases utility, directly or indirectly, not to be confused with good in a moral or ethical sense (see Utilitarianism and consequentialist ethical theory). A good that cannot be used by consumers directly, such as an office building or capital equipment, can also be referred to as a good as an indirect source of utility through resale value or as a source of income. A 'good' in economic usage does not imply moral acceptance or even legality. Face-to-face trading interactions on the New York Stock Exchange trading floor. ... In economics, utility is a measure of the relative happiness or satisfaction (gratification) gained. ... This article discusses utilitarian ethical theory. ... Consequentialism refers to those moral theories which hold that the consequences of a particular action form the basis for any valid moral judgment about that action. ... Consumers refers to individuals or households that purchase and use goods and services generated within the economy. ...


If an object or service is sold for a positive price, then it is a good since the purchaser considers the utility of the object or service more valuable than the money.Some things are useful but not scarce such as air and are referred to as free goods. Look up air in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The free good is a term used in economics to describe a good that is not scarce. ...


In macroeconomics and accounting, a good is contrasted with a service. A good here is defined as a physical (tangible) product capable of being delivered to a purchaser and involves the transfer of ownership from seller to customer, as opposed to an (intangible) service. A more general term that preserves the distinction between goods and services is 'commodities'. In microeconomics a 'good' is often used in this more inclusive sense of a commodity. Circulation in macroeconomics Macroeconomics is a branch of Economics that deals with the performance, structure, and behavior of the economy as a whole. ... It has been suggested that Accounting scholarship be merged into this article or section. ... This article is about a term used in economics. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Sales, or the activity of selling, forms an integral part of commercial activity. ... Customers are waiting in front of a famous fashion shop for its grand opening in Hong Kong. ... Microeconomics (or price theory) is a branch of economics that studies how individuals, households, and firms make decisions to allocate limited resources,[1] typically in markets where goods or services are being bought and sold. ...

Contents

Utility characteristics of goods

A good is an object whose consumption increases the utility of the consumer, for which the quantity demanded exceeds the quantity supplied at zero price. Goods are usually modeled as having decreasing marginal utility. The first car an individual purchases is very valuable; the fourth is much less useful. Thus, in these and similar goods, the marginal utility of additional units approaches zero as the quantity consumed increases. Assuming that one cannot re-sell it, there is a point at which a consumer would decline to purchase an additional car, even at a price very near zero. This is the consumer's satiation point. In economics, utility is a measure of the relative happiness or satisfaction (gratification) gained. ... In economics, diminishing returns is the short form of diminishing marginal returns. ...


In some cases, such as the above example of a car, the lower limit of utility as quantity increases is zero. In other goods, the utility of a good can cross zero, changing from positive to negative through time. This means that what initially is a good can become a bad if too much of it is consumed. For example, shots of vodka can have positive utility, but beyond some point, additional units make the consumer less happy, that is, they would not be chosen.


In economics a bad is the opposite of a good. Ultimately, whether an object is a good or a bad depends on each individual consumer, and therefore, it is important to realize that not all goods are good all the time, and not all goods are goods to all people. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...


Types of goods

Goods can be defined in a variety of ways, depending on a number a characteristics, these are listed in the table below;

Types of goods

public good - private good - common good - common-pool resource - club good - anti-rival goods A good in economics is any physical object (natural or man-made) or service that, upon consumption, increases utility, and therefore can be sold at a price in a market. ... In economics, a public good is a good that is non-rival and non-excludable. ... In economics Private good is an opposite of the public good. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Common pool resource. ... The terms common-pool resource (CPR), alternatively termed a common property resource, is a particular type of good, and a natural or human-made resource system, whose size or characteristics of which makes it costly, but not impossible, to exclude potential beneficiaries from obtaining benefits from its use. ... Club goods are a type of goods in economics, sometimes classified as a subtype of public goods, that are non-competetive and excludable. ... This term is a neologism, coined by (Weber) to describe goods created by a process of reciprocal exchange for mutual benefit, such as open source software. ...

rivalrous good and non-excludable good
complement good vs. substitute good
free good vs. scarce good, positional good

(non-)durable good - intermediate good (producer good) - final good - consumer good - capital good
inferior good - normal good - ordinary good - Giffen good - luxury good - Veblen good - superior good
search good - (post-)experience good - merit good - credence good - demerit good In economics, a good is considered rivalrous if its consumption by one person prevents it from being available to others. ... Excludability is defined in economics as whether or not it is possible to exclude people who have not paid for a good or service from consuming it. ... A complement or complementary good is defined in economics as a good that should be consumed with another good; its cross elasticity of demand is negative. ... In economics, one kind of good (or service) is said to be a substitute good for another kind insofar as the two kinds of goods can be consumed or used in place of one another in at least some of their possible uses. ... The free good is a term used in economics to describe a good that is not scarce. ... Scarcity is a central concept in economics. ... A positional good is an intrinsically scarce good whose value is determined by its social context, as opposed to a material good which has innate value. ... A car (Toyota Corolla S) is a durable good in economics. ... Intermediate goods or producer goods are goods used as inputs in the production of other goods, such as partly finished goods or raw materials. ... In economics Final goods are goods that are ultimately consumed rather than used in the production of another good. ... Definitions of consumer goods by Ben Murray New goods acquired by households for their own consumption. ... Capital goods, in contrast to consumer goods, are goods used in the production of (physical) capital. ... In consumer theory, an inferior good is a good that decreases in demand when the consumers income rises, unlike normal goods, for which the opposite is observed. ... In economics, normal goods are any goods for which demand increases when income increases. ... An ordinary good is a microeconomic concept used in consumer theory. ... A Giffen good is a product for which a rise in price of this product makes people buy even more of the product. ... A Lincoln Town Car luxury sedan is an example of a luxury good. ... A commodity is a Veblen good if peoples preference for buying it increases as a direct function of its price. ... Superior goods make up a larger proportion of consumption as income rises, and as such are a type of normal goods in consumer theory. ... In economics, a search good is a product or service with easily observable features and characteristics. ... In economics, an experience good is a product or service where product characteristics such as quality or price are difficult to observe. ... A merit good is defined in economics as a good that is under consumed if provided by the market mechanism because individuals typically consider how the good benefits them as individuals rather than the benefits that consumption generates for others in society. ... A credence good is a term used in economics for a good whose utility impact is difficult or impossible for the consumer to ascertain. ... In economics, a demerit good is a good or service that is seen as intrinsically unhealthy, degrading, or socially damaging towards other persons and/or society at large once consumed. ...

See also

This aims to be a complete list of the articles on economics. ... The basic economic problem is a term used in economic theory. ... Freight is a term used to classify the transportation of cargo and is typically a commercial process. ... This article is about transported goods. ... Shopping is the examining of goods or services from retailers with intent to purchase. ...

References

  • Bannock, Graham et al. (1997). Dictionary of Economics, Penguin Books.
  • Milgate, Murray (1987), "goods and commodities," The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics, v. 2, pp. 546-48. Includes historical and contemporary uses of the terms in economics.


 

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